There are few things more exciting as a parent than watching your child’s ability to communicate with you grow and blossom. Between birth and age three, children’s language skills develop dramatically, and there is often a wide range of normal when it comes to children saying their first words. “The typical benchmark for a child saying their first word is 12 months old, but it’s often analogous to when children take their first steps. There can be wide age variations as to when children say their first words,” says Ellen Meyer Gregg, a Professor of Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences. Here’s a road map to help guide you through the early years of speech-language development:
While pushing her stroller through a downpour with her son, four, hunkered on the buggy board and her daughter, two, snuggled under the stroller’s rain tarp, Karen Conklin didn’t notice her daughter’s favorite pink blanket slip out. When Conklin finally arrived home, her relief was short-lived when she realized in horror that Annie’s “pillow pod” was missing.
Toddlerhood really is a wonderful stage in a child’s life. The behavior of the one- to four-year-old is judged as being difficult and ‘naughty.’ Parents and caregivers can learn how their toddler’s behavior is developmentally appropriate and correct for their age. Here are some stages that toddlers go through and helpful parenting behaviors:
Many families struggle to rouse sleepy children in the morning, but what if you have the opposite problem? If your preschooler is wide awake and chirpy with the dawn, you need rest and solutions to keep your early riser from waking the household. Adjusting your child’s bedtime is an obvious first step, but if that is not an option, or does not have the desired results, there is still hope.
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